The Annual Malfoy Christmas Eve Ball
by Laura 001
Summary: The Malfoy's have an annual ball on Christmas Eve. Narcissa has discovered that her daughter-in-law, Hermione, has done something that will ruin the ball and is now on the warpath.


**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter etc, please don't sue me!**

 **Warnings:** AU, OOC, adult themes, some violence.

Prompt for Hogwarts House Challenge - the Quidditch Pitch: Enslave

 **A/N: A Christmas present for you all - happy reading XD**

* * *

Narcissa snarled viciously as she stormed from the decorated ballroom of Malfoy Manor. Her blond hair perfectly coiled into elegant waves, flounced around her as she moved. Robes flattering and elegant, fluttered around her legs with each purposeful stride into the expansive white marble main hall. Her jewels glinting hard in the soft light, matched her livid eyes.

The threat clearly written on her face had Draco, who had just arrived home through the floo, immediately swivelling on his heel to exit the room before he was noticed and became the unwilling sacrifice to absolve her all-encompassing fury.

'Draco,' his mother snapped.

He stilled, cursing his bad luck. He loved his mother dearly, she was a passionate, determined, and formidable woman who led society with grace and strength; but when her mind was set against you, she was very difficult to bear – if you were brave enough to try, personally Draco considered anywhere in England to be too close in such situations.

He turned slowly: palms open and forward – like you would a dangerous animal threatening to smush you into the ground – and avoiding any sudden movements.

'Good afternoon, Mother,' he greeted, forcing a winning smile onto his lips that effectively shrouded his nervousness from view.

'Good!' she hissed. 'There is nothing "good" about it. Everything is ruined!'

Draco winced as he racked his brains to think if he could possibly be the cause of this apparent ruination. He didn't think so. But, clearly, his mother would demolish anyone who was not supremely helpful in solving the issue right now.

'What has happened, Mother?' he asked in a soothing tone.

'A revolt,' she bit out.

A sinking feeling swelled in Draco's stomach. A revolt usually can be linked to one thing in this house… and the fall out would be anything but pretty.

'Your wife,' she spat, 'has caused a revolt. The Annual Malfoy Christmas Eve Ball is tonight, and your wife, has ruined it. It is entirely unacceptable for her to behave so!'

 _Hades_ , he thought, _Hermione what have you done this time? She's already off her broom about the wedding, no need to go poking the basilisk today._

'Erm…'

'Is that all you can say! Brought up in the highest circles of society and all you say is "erm"! Have you forgotten the entire English language?'

'I apologise for my deficient response, Mother. I will immediately do my best to promptly resolve the issue.'

'Where. Is. She?'

'Hermione?' he asked innocently, hiding all trepidation. His mother in this mood with the stress of the annual ball tonight against his wife on whatever crusade she was on today had all the earmarks of a destroyed room, a trip to Saint Mungo's, or perhaps the smouldering ruins of an entire wing of the Manor; none of which he was particularly inspired by.

'Have you found yourself a second wife?' Narcissa bit back.

Draco ignored the retort. 'I do believe she was heading out this afternoon—'

'Don't lie to me. Oh, never mind,' she huffed and with a flick of her wrist, hissed, 'Stupefy' at her only child.

Draco didn't have time to dodge the surprise wandlesss magic and slumped to the cold marble floor with a dull thud.

Narcissa sniffed and flicked her hand a second time, a cushion immediately appearing under his head, and then turned toward the grand staircase on a mission to hunt down her daughter-in-law who was somewhere on the massive estate.

* * *

Bang.

Hermione was pulled from her book by the sound of the heavy oak library doors slamming open. She leaned forward from her curled position in the corner of the soft sofa that was bathed in natural light from the huge duel-level windows, to peer around the shelf and see who had entered.

Narcissa stood in the centre of the doorway, magic shimmering around her and clearly upset.

Hermione raised an eyebrow and for a moment as she considered offering her assistance to the lady with whatever task had brought her into this sanctuary of knowledge, but, after reflecting on the magic swirling around the lady, decided it was sometimes best to learn from her husband's many more years of experience with the woman and lay low.

She turned back to her book, certain Narcissa would leave her alone and find the actual source of her bad temper for releasing her anger.

She turned the thick parchment page, its rough feel a source of comfort on her fingertips. She was researching creature laws for a new awareness campaign; her last one on dragons had been highly successful, despite the Goblins trying to argue that they needed to live underground in Gringotts for security reasons – the dragons were now all in spacious wildlife preserves.

The clipped smack of her mother-in-law's heels disappeared into the luxurious carpet and Hermione's focus faded from everything except the words in front of her.

'Hermione,' her mother-in-law drawled in a superior tone.

Hermione jumped in surprise, eyes darting straight to the family matriarch who stood a few feet from her, watching her like a scientist would an irritating result.

'Cissa, good afternoon; how is the finalisation of the ball preparations?'

Narcissa's nostrils flared and her chin raised slightly.

'They were going perfectly until someone stuck their unwelcome beliefs into the event.'

A wrinkle formed on Hermione's brow, her head tilting ever so slightly to the left as she considered the older lady's words.

'Which beliefs would those be?'

'Creature beliefs,' Narcissa replied with a sniff, however her eyes clearly showed her fury as they sparked aggression towards Hermione.

'Oh, have they listened to what I told them?' Hermione asked with excitement, a smile forming on her face.

'Apparently,' a clipped drawl replied.

'This is excellent!' Hermione immediately pulled herself up straighter in her comfortable seat.

'Which means that you have single-handedly ruined the most important event of the season – the Annual Malfoy Christmas Eve Ball.'

Hermione laughed lightly and waved off Narcissa's claim.

'It isn't ruin.'

'They have all left the Manor and my elegant plans are in tatters. Think of the guests!'

'They might be creatures, but they are magical and deserve better treatment. You basically enslave them - they must be paid a fair wage!' Hermione bristled.

'They have no use for Wizarding money, what, exactly, do you expect them to do with it?'

'They could purchase items that they want to make their lives better.'

'They have everything they need.'

'You shouldn't just expect to click your fingers and have them do your bidding.'

'They live on the Malfoy estate! In return, they do what I ask on the rare occasions I make a request.'

'Rare! Hardly rare!' Hermione snorted derisively. 'You summon them at every possible opportunity. They should have rights and I'm glad they finally have agreed!'

'You foolish girl—'

'Hardly foolish, I was valedictori—'

'Oh, yes, I know. Everyone knows you held the pride of place at Hogwarts – if the teachers weren't so bias, it would have been Draco who was valedictorian.'

Hermione gasped in outrage. 'I worked hard for that award!'

'So did Draco,' Narcissa growled. 'But school smarts don't mean you understand this society. You had no right to destroy my ball with your activism.'

'Draco supports my campaigns for better rights.'

'Of course her does, he supports everything you do,' Narcissa spat back bitterly.

'Is this about the wedding again? I told you that it was a joint decision for us to elope.'

'Draco knows better than to do such a thing, but you would ask.'

'He suggested it – as he has told you many times before.'

'Only because you told him to.'

'You think your son has no backbone just because he loves me‽ He makes his own decisions, and while, yes, he listens to my opinion, he is in charge of his life.'

Narcissa scoffed.

'I didn't get to see my only son get married.'

'We invited you to the impromptu ceremony – you chose not to come.'

'I didn't think you two would go through with it without me!'

'Just because you wanted to throw the wedding of the year—'

'Decade!'

'Whatever: doesn't mean we wanted that… where is Draco anyway? He should be home by now.'

A brief flash of guilt flickered over Narcissa's face, before it was returned to her society nonchalance. 'I daresay he has been delayed in some way. But regardless, you have ruined tonight's ball encouraging those creatures to leave.'

'Stop calling them creatures, they have a name.'

'Creatures!' Narcissa snapped back childishly.

Hermione gave her a withering glare in response. 'The event is not ruined, it is easy to work around – or you could just give them what they want.'

'I don't know what they want – they said they quit and left like a swarm,' Narcissa replied with derision.

'They just want to be paid fairly.'

'Ridiculous, they already live on the estate, I'm not paying them galleons as well.'

'Then do without them,' Hermione snapped.

Narcissa shrieked and stamped her regal little foot in her dainty shoes on the carpet; the lack of stone flooring removing most of the force the image could have portrayed. She drew her wand and pointed it at her daughter-in-law. Hermione's eyes widened and she immediately coiled her muscles and fingered her own wand.

'Make them come back,' Narcissa demanded puerilely.

'I can't,' Hermione reasoned with petulant smugness.

'I will hex you,' the blond lady warned; and despite her societal trimmings, she looked a truly intimidating witch.

'You can try,' Hermione challenged, chin lifting marginally.

Narcissa hissed and flicked her wand, 'Stimulus!'

The stinging hex shot towards Hermione and the brunette batted it away with a solid shield charm.

'Avis,' Hermione answered with a sweeping movement, and small eagles shot towards Narcissa with their claws bared.

Narcissa deftly dropped them all from the air and they vanished as they hit the ground.

'Spiritus Piperis'.

Hermione dove over the couch and landed awkwardly on her elbow to avoid the pepper breath hex; she had no desire for Draco to dodge her kisses for the rest of the day – he hated pepper.

 _Vindictive harpy_ , Hermione cursed in her mind as she crouched behind the cover.

Jumping up, Hermione levelled her wand at the older witch and snapped, 'Stringit caudam crescere.'

Narcissa flicked her wand and the tail-growing hex dissolved before it hit her body. 'That wasn't very family friendly.'

Hermione shrugged, wand up and ready for the next attack.

'Ducklifors,' Narcissa retaliated.

Hermione side-stepped the jet of purple light that could turn her into a duck and growled, 'Anteoculatia,' with a short sharp wand movement, making sure she shoved extra power into the spell.

Narcissa shrieked as her own shield failed and the hex hit. Green devil horns grew out through her hair.

'I have a ball tonight!'

'Apparently, I've already ruined it; so you may as well skip the event,' Hermione retorted. 'I can remove the hex, unless you would prefer to visit Saint Mungo's looking like that, if you stop giving us a hard time about eloping and pay the creatures for their services.'

'They have payment enough – I'll not pay them galleons as well.'

'I think they deserve the galleons, but did you even ask them what they wanted?'

'I already said, they left immediately; but, obviously, they want galleons,' Narcissa sneered.

'Actually, if you had bothered to stop them and ask, rather than just assume they'd want what you do, you'd know that all they want is a blueberry each.'

'What! Blueberries! That's it?'

'I did tell them a galleon each, but they don't want that.'

'Why didn't you say earlier?'

'You should have asked.'

Narcissa rolled her eyes. 'Fine. Tell the blasted creatures that they can have their blueberries – but they better sparkle more brilliantly than ever before as they twinkle in the decorations and flitter around the room.'

Hermione smiled with success as she chided, 'They are called fairies.'

'Just get them back and in place an hour before the ball.'

'Of course,' Hermione agreed easily. 'And the elopement?'

Narcissa glared at her. 'Fine, I'll admit that Draco makes his own decisions and that it was a joint decision – but I'm still upset that I never saw my only child's wedding.'

'I can give you a memory to watch in the pensive.'

'You will?' Narcissa asked, her tone lightening.

'Of course. We actually have one wrapped for your Christmas gift, along with photographs of the celebration.'

Narcissa lips twitched upwards slightly in response, before she forced the look of nonchalance onto her face. 'Now I have agreed to your terms, remove these horns.'

'I will, although I never said when.'

Narcissa's eyes widened in surprise, her dainty jaw dropping.

Hermione raised an eyebrow in smug reply.

Suddenly, Narcissa smirked and stepped forwarded, exclaiming, 'Oh you are a true Malfoy,' and wrapped the younger lady into a tight hug. 'Welcome to the Malfoy family, dear.'

Hermione stilled in surprise. 'Erm, thank you, and I promise to remove the green horns before the ball.'

'Green?'

'Mm, at least it is a Slytherin colour,' Hermione answered cheekily. 'Now I'm going to floo Draco and see what is keeping him.'

'You do that, dear. I need to start getting dressed for the ball – could you remove the horns before I start to prepare – they will ruin my hair-do.

Hermione shrugged and flicked her wand to remove the hex.

'Thank you, dear.' Hermione watched with interest as Narcissa swiftly left the room and headed towards her own wing, a niggling concern shimmered at the edge of her mind at the other lady's hasty departure.

Heading downstairs to the entrance floo, Hermione came across the house elves huddled around something on the floor.

Coming closer, Hermione realised it was her husband. The cushion under his head and his strange location left her in no uncertain doubt that Narcissa was behind his current position. The house elves looked at her with worried eyes.

Hermione smiled at them sweetly and knelt beside her slumbering husband, swishing her wand to release his from the spell. He blearily blinked and then abruptly sat up. Catching sight of his wife, his eyes slide over her; inspecting for injuries.

'Did Mother find you?'

'Yes, we have sorted the issue.'

'How did you manage that?'

'I gave her horns and refused to remove them until she agreed with my terms. She didn't wish to be photographed at Saint Mungo's.'

Draco smirked with approval.

'Dipsy,' Draco spoke, facing a little house elf in a green dress by Hermione's side.

'Yes, Master.'

'I don't want my mother to be late for the ball. Can you please turn her clocks one hour forward in her wing so she has plenty of time – and do not make her aware of this.'

Dipsy looked uncertain for a moment, but then nodded and disappeared.

'That's your revenge,' Hermione asked, amused.

'She knocked me out and I was left lying on the hard floor for half an hour, so yes, she can rush to prepare and then stand around in her heels for an extra hour.'

Hermione offered a mischievous smile. 'Well, I suppose it was very poor form of her; you'll be too stiff to dance with me.'

Draco laughed and kissed her lightly. 'Never.'

'I love you.'

'I love you too.'

Hermione smiled at the returned endearment, before recalling her promise. 'Oh, and we need to make up a photograph album and get a memory of the wedding for your mother for Christmas.'

'Being sneaky again?'

'Only when necessary.'

'Very sexy you know.'

'To you.'

'Yes, most definitely to me,' Draco replied, eyes shining with emotion.

He pulled her up as he stood and wrapped a warm arm around her waist, leading her out of the great hall and up the staircase.

THE END

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 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed the Christmas story. Wishing you all a fantastic year to come! As usual, any Oxford English mistakes, please PM me. Otherwise I love every favourite and review!**


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